“Yeah, I will,” he answers, slowly getting out of the truck. He stumbles a bit, but otherwise seems fine.
“Thanks for driving me,” he says as I unlock the door. “I definitely wouldn’t have made it home.”
“It’s no problem—”
Suddenly, Kit stumbles into me, tripping over the stoop. I hold him up and shove him through the door, slamming it behind us.
“Home,” he says, throwing himself down on the couch. “Thank you, Lexa, for such a great night.”
“You’ve thanked me a lot tonight,” I answer, chuckling.
“Because I mean it. I’ve never let loose like that. It was great.”
“That’s good,” I say. “I’m guessing you didn’t get a lot of time to go out with your pack duties and stuff?”
“You said it,” he mutters, sitting up and running a hand through his thick hair. “I was allowed to go out, though. Just only to certain places.”
“Sounds like a prison,” I say, sitting down next to him.
Kit stares at the wall, his face shrouded in darkness. I only turned on one lamp as we walked in, and the room is full of shadows. I see his eyes shimmer, and I don’t know if it’s the rising of his wolf or unshed tears.
“You have no idea,” he whispers.
There is so much pain in his voice, I feel it in my own body. A sharp ache tightens my chest.
I can’t stand the thought of his suffering. Even when I thought I hated him, I never wished him pain.
“Kit,” I say softly. He turns to look at me, and I’m almost certain the gleam in his eyes is from tears he refuses to shed.
He reaches out, running his fingers down my cheek very gently. “I’m so sorry, Lexa. The guilt in me, the regret… sometimes it’s so huge, I can’t even breathe. It squeezes the joy out of my life until everything is bleak and hopeless. Finding you again, having this chance… it means more to me than you’d ever know.”
“I think I do know,” I whisper, brushing his hair back from his forehead. Suddenly, I feel so close to him, and I can’t understand why I’ve resisted him all this time.
That might also be the rotgut talking.
Even though I was able to drive home, it’s only because I have a high tolerance for rough liquor. I’m still hammered enough to have extremely poor judgment.
“Lexa,” Kit whispers, staring into my eyes. “I’ll do anything to make it up to you, I swear. If I could take back those words, I would. I didn’t mean it. Any of it.”
I want to run. Fear sparks deep inside my guts as I remember Kit told me a lot of sweet words once before, but he rescinded them easily enough when it suited him. But I’m too drunk to remember the details exactly, and the one and only thing I can really feel is the desire sweeping through my body again, even stronger than before.
It’s almost as if I’ve been holding it back since the encounter in the woods, and every second I’ve kept it chained up, it’s gotten stronger. It’s a torrent now, a rushing flood that I can’t hold back. I moan softly as I run my hands down Kit’s neck and on his shoulders, enjoying the feel of his hard muscles under the soft shirt.
I keep moving my hands down, teasing him and myself. When I reach the top button, I pause, but only for a second, before I undo it and move to the next one.
“Lexa, what are you doing?”
“Shut up,” I answer, undoing the next button. Kit’s breathing speeds up, but there is no other sound as I finish with the buttons and slowly roll the shirt off his shoulders and down his arms, pinning his hands behind his back.
Doubts flutter through my mind, but they’re far away, completely insignificant against the inferno of desire that’s building in me. Kit watches in stunned silence as I put my hands back on his shoulders and brace myself so I can slide over and straddle his lap.
“Lexa,” he murmurs.
I just shake my head, running my fingers over his smooth chest. I’m completely mesmerized by the sensation, and it intensifies my arousal, making my body throb and ache.
Leaning in, I kiss him gently, keeping him still with my hands and my knees. He gasps, leaning back into the couch as I deepen the kiss. I can feel the muscles in his shoulders straining as he tries to free his arms, but I just pin him even tighter.
I start to rock back and forth a little, teasing myself with pressure and grinding down with my hips. Kit’s breathing gets faster, until he’s taking short, panting breaths. Sweat starts to trickle from his brow, and I wipe it away gently with one hand.
